Playing Harvest Goddess
by a sea of sound
Summary: Musings of a pigtailed farmer and a silent carpenter. — KurtTina.


**I think I've had this in my Doc Manager for over a year, but I never finished it or published it. I can't remember the last time I edited this, so sorry for any mistakes. I don't believe I'll ever finish this, to be honest.**

**Some writer I am.**

* * *

When they first meet she hits him like a small wind: odd and out of place in the middle of summer. Her arrival is unannounced and spontaneous; he later learns it's something she does regularly and irrevocably.

Woody calls to him and Joe, his voice boisterous and demanding as always.

"Hey! You two, get over here!"

"Woody, who's this?" Joe asks, a friendly smile on his face. Kurt's tried that before; it never worked out.

"..." He says nothing, to save himself and the new girl from... Well, he doesn't know what. Maybe he's just making excuses for himself again.

Kurt thinks she is the embodiment summer. Her hair is pulled up into pigtails and her eyes bright like the sun. Despite it all she's pale, yet so young and childlike. He wonders how old she must be—what, eighteen? seventeen?—to his twenty-four years. He unintentionally frowns at her while deciphering her age, and those great brown eyes lock with his in a gaze so intense he feels a slight shiver run up his back.

"I'm Tina. I signed up for the 'Exciting Ranch Plan' that this village offered." she says with a small smile. Kurt is unnerved by the fact that she won't look at him, although he really doesn't know why. First impressions never meant anything to him—well, socializing in general didn't and doesn't mean anything to him. It was probably that look she gave him when he frowned at her. It reminded him of someone, though he can't figure out whom. "It's very nice to meet you all."

"I'm Joe, and this is my brother Kurt. The pleasure is all ours! No one ever comes to this place anyway," Joe chuckles, and Kurt can't help but envy his brother's ease.

* * *

Later that day he sees her again in the Town Square on his way back from the Moonlight Mine. It's the afternoon and the sun hits her face, making her look older than she is. But Kurt can't really think that, because he _doesn't_ know how old she is.

Tina removes her pigtails and appears to be struggling with her hair, tossing her head back and forth. Her face is serene despite her battles with her auburn hair, and she settles it into a single ponytail in the back of her head. She sits on a bench and leans back, looking up at the orange sky. Kurt briefly questions himself on why he's basically stalking her right now and decides to confront her—by walking past her and "not noticing" her.

She calls out to him, "Hello, Kurt."

He stops, and turns to her with what he hopes is an indifferent expression. He's usually so good at this. Right now is an exception. "Hello..." Trailing off, he looks out toward the horizon.

To his surprise, she simply gets up and brushes off her shorts. Tina grins, her eyes filled with something that looks like amusement. "I like your headband."

Then she walks off and Kurt just doesn't know what to think anymore.

* * *

"What's wrong with your brother? He's acting weird," Woody grumbles, discarding a crooked piece of lumber.

Joe balks. Weird? Kurt acting weird? "How so? He seems fine to me."

"Well, his work sure as hell isn't fine to me, and he's more passive aggressive than usual, if that's even possible." Woody sighs, "Find out what's wrong with him and tell him to figure it out. We can't work like this."

"All right, Boss."

Joe walked out of the Workshop, his thoughts on his brother. What could possibly be making him act up like this? It can't be Dia's leaving Flower Bud; that was three years ago and he was over her. At least Joe hoped Kurt was over her.

Three years ago, Flower Bud Village went through a great decline in the medicinal herbs and plants that the Sanatorium needed to run smoothly. It was somewhat of a drought; the wild plants wouldn't grow and farmers were having trouble growing their own crops. So because the Sanatorium couldn't provide for its patients, Dia and her nurse Gina left the village in search of somewhere that could provide proper medication for the sickly young woman. Dia had left without saying goodbye, which Joe was sure wasn't her fault, though he couldn't really help being a little bitter toward her for doing that to his little brother. She could've at least sent him a letter, but none ever came.

That year had been one of the hardest for the Workshop. Kurt's work was becoming less and less satisfactory, and he mostly just spent his time at the beach where he and Dia used to meet. He barely talked and when he did, it was barely intelligible and snappy. After a while Woody finally had enough, calling Kurt out for his lazy work and snapping him back to reality. It'd taken a while for him to get back on the road. And to be honest, it terrified Joe to see Kurt so depressed.

"Joe, what are you doing?"

Joe's head jerks up and he realizes he walked knee-deep into the ocean. Kurt's standing there, looking at Joe with confusion written all over his face. Chuckling and rubbing his neck, Joe walks back to the shore to stand next to his brother.

"Uh, just...testing the waters, I guess!... Uh, Woody wanted me to get you," Joe watches as his brother folds his arms and looks down at the sand, looking pensive. "He thinks—"

"There's something bothering me." Kurt finishes for him, looking out toward the sea.

"Is there?"

"I don't know, Joe..."

Joe fumbles, "Is... is it the new girl? Tina? I mean, you've been acting this way since she came here."

For the first time, Joe doesn't know the meaning of his brother's silence.

* * *

Katie stares at Kurt, perturbed, as Joe rambles to her about their wedding in the background. She finds it to be disconcerting as Kurt continues to stare at the floor, not even making eye contact with Tina, who sits across from him. After hearing from Joe that Kurt had been acting strange ever since Tina came to Flower Bud, Katie had taken it upon herself to set up a little get-together with her new friend, so Tina could get well-acquainted with some of the townspeople before the wedding.

It wasn't exactly going according to plan.

Tina occasionally glanced at Kurt not necessarily looking uncomfortable, but Katie doesn't quite understand her yet. She's friendly, calm, and quiet, yet she's pretty much a walking enigma. It's basically as though nothing surprises her; Katie's never seen any other expressions on her face except that unnervingly calm smile. It really doesn't help that Tina doesn't say much, either.

"Err, Tina! Do you want more cake? We've got chocolate, red velvet, lemon, strawberry, and a bunch of other ones!" Katie says in an uncomfortably loud voice. Joe stops, staring at her with his mouth open. Kurt looks up and frowns. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Tina _still _manages to look undisturbed.

"No thank you,"

With a light quirk of her lips, everyone goes back to minding their own business.

* * *

He hears her footsteps before her voice.

"Kurt."

"Dia."

He turns around and she's there, in all her ebony-haired and emerald-clad glory. Her expression is apathetic, as usual, but there's something different about her this time. There's something ethereal about her presence, but that's not new to Kurt. She was always heavenly to him, like an angel.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he questions, his own face indifferent. Her dress and hair lightly sway in the breeze.

"I didn't tell you because either way you'd have asked, and I wouldn't have answered." Dia looks past him, as though he's not there. He doesn't want to turn around because he knows she'll leave (—but then again, he knows that either way she'll disappear.)

Against his will Kurt turns around, trying to understand what Dia already does. But when he turns back, she's gone, and Tina is in her place.

"Hello, Kurt. What are you doing?" Tina asks.

Kurt doesn't realize his mouth is hanging open as if in mid-speech. "N-nothing."

A chuckle escapes Tina. She goes to stand beside him, balancing back and forth on the balls of her feet with her hands behind her back.

"Do you think I'm strange, Kurt?"

Her question catches him off-guard. Her head is childishly cocked to the side and she has an unreadable expression on her face.

"Um, I don't know." Well, was she expecting a heartfelt answer?

"Hmm. If you don't mind me asking, who was that Dia you were talking to? I didn't see anyone here."

Was that really all in his head? He must be going mad.

"I must be going mad," he mumbles. "It's not any of your business anyway."

"I suppose it isn't. But you _were_ speaking aloud, which means you basically let anyone who heard into your business." A scowl on his face, he turns to her. Tina's expression is filled with mirth and there it is—she looks older again.

"Who _are _you anyway?" he snaps. He can't help it.

That unfazed expression is _really _starting to get to him.

She decides to go back to rocking on the balls of her feet. "My name is Tina. And that's all there really is. Your name is Kurt, and that's all that really matters, isn't it? Who cares about who I am? You probably don't care if people know who you are."

Taken aback by her answer, he decides she's the one that's mad, going around telling him how to think.

"Why do you go around making assumptions? It's really not going to get you anywhere with the people here, especially not me."

Kurt is somewhat satisfied by the flicker of anger in her countenance. So she _is _human...

"Don't flatter yourself, Kurt. Who said I wanted to get somewhere with you?" Suddenly, he doesn't see her as some bizarre, confused runaway anymore. "I go around making assumptions because that's what people do. Have you heard what people have said about me here, why I've come here from the city? They're all assumptions because I haven't told anyone anything—"

"See, Tina? That's where you're wrong. _That _is why people assume things about you, because you don't tell them anything. Do you _like _people whispering about you, throwing stories around?" He doesn't know why he's so fired up about this. She's been here in Flower Bud Village for less than a month and she already got him to say something other than "hm" and "whatever." A pretty impressive feat, Joe and Gwen would say.

"You're such a hypocrite. Why don't you tell me about yourself, then?" With her arms crossed, her eyebrows furrowed, and her brown eyes cold yet understanding; for the first time, Kurt thinks she _is_ an adult.

Although he somewhat (doesn't) want(s) to spill his guts to her, he grumbles a simple, "No," and goes back to the Workshop.

* * *

"NO, NO! The peonies go _here_, Nina, not there!" Katie panics, taking the beautiful pink flowers from the gardener's daughter. Nina sighs, crossing her arms. Katie is a real-life bridezilla.

"Katie! Calm down, it's all going to be fine. Just relax okay?" Joe laughs, wrapping his arm around his fiancée. Katie sighs, leaning into him.

"It's just—I've been dreaming about this day ever since I was a little girl! If it isn't perfect I'm going to have to live with this as long as we're married!" she cries desperately, and Joe raises an eyebrow at her.

Tina smiles and chuckles in the background, putting up the flimsy white material in the trees. But of course that scheming waitress decided to make her and Kurt work in the same area. The two of them hadn't talked since that argument on the beach. Katie's standing there watching them work together yet separately, her hands on her hips.

"I need to do something about those two," Katie whispers to Gwen, who just shakes her head.

Gwen replies, "Katie, they look like they want to stab each other."

"Exactly! It'd be _great_! Just imagine!"

"You are hopeless. C'mon, you shouldn't be planning your own wedding or other people's love lives." The horse-riding girl starts to drag Katie back to Café Calloway, but Katie remains firm—or tries to against Gwen's strength.

"Hey! They need it! Look at them arguing about the placement of the arch!" Katie points to Kurt and Tina, who seem to be trying their damnedest to ignore each other, whilst trying to perfectly place the wedding arch.

"No, it should go _here, _Kurt. It's perfectly aligned with the path, see?" Tina says slightly condescendingly.

"No, it should be here. It wasn't aligned with the path; it was _off_." Kurt insists, becoming even more irritable as each second passes.

"By what, two centimeters?" she sighs, rubbing her forehead.

"Maybe it was. This is my brother's wedding; if it doesn't go well, it's not going to be my fault."

"So you'd rather it be anyone else's fault but yours? That's quite noble of you." This time her hands go to her hips in an act of defiance.

"No! I'd rather this wedding be perfect and what they want." Their brown eyes pierce each other with equal amounts of intensity.

Gwen sighs, watching as they indignantly turn away from each other. Katie smiles at her in triumph, but for what Gwen doesn't know.

"What's with that smile? They can't talk to each other without wanting to rip the other's head off."

"Gwen, I thought you knew better than this! Whatever, Kurt's right. It _was_ a little off; man I just hope my wedding goes according to plan!"

Gwen rolls her ruby eyes. She also decides she's the only sane person in this village.

* * *

The wedding does go accordingly.

Tina and Kurt decided to call a truce, which was probably the be-all-end-all of Joe and Katie's wedding. It went smoothly and Katie ended up crying tears of joy instead of grief. That in itself was an accomplishment of both the best man and the bridesmaid.

The reception took place on Flower Bud Point, a random peninsula to the southeast of town. It was beautiful in all its white simplicity. There was a white canopy above them in case it rained, which it didn't. The buffet table was relegated next to the table sets that were arranged in a U shape around the dance floor. It really wasn't anything spectacular, but everyone made their own efforts to make it as fanciful as it can be. Katie and Joe were very content with how it turned out, and that's what mattered to the villagers.

"What do you think?" Tina asks, twirling lightly. The horrid bridesmaid dress is a light pink color with an off-the-shoulder type of neckline. There's a white rose in the middle of the neckline, and a band wraps around her abdomen, making the skirt look extra puffy. The monstrosity ends at mid-calf, and her shoes are small white heels with a thin strap around the ankle. It doesn't seem to bother Tina much that the outfit Katie chose is a fashion malfunction, but Kurt doesn't seem to pay much attention to her.

He watches as his brother has his first dance with his wife as a married couple, wondering if he would ever get married. "I don't."

Tina sighs, folding her arms behind her back and doing the all-too-familiar rocking on her feet. Kurt tries not to show that it's really irritating him. "They make a good couple, no? Despite the age difference, really."

Kurt frowns. "How old are you, anyway?"

A flash of a smile spreads across her lips. "Twenty-one."

The answer shocks him mildly. He could've sworn she was just leaving the stage of adolescence, but apparently not. Deciding to finally look at her, he realizes she does somewhat look her age, but it's probably because her hair is down from her usual pigtails. He supposes she looks mature that way, maybe even attractive. Yet of course he'd never actually admit that to himself.

"You look weird with your hair like that,"

She laughs. It sounds almost unreal. "Thanks. You look weird without all the camouflage. I can actually see you." Again, she laughs at her own joke. Kurt shakes his head and rolls his eyes, trying to focus on what's happening on the dance floor.

"You really are a walking enigma, you know that?" Joe is now awkwardly dancing with Gwen, who is smirking and restraining herself from laughing out loud.

"I've been told." Tina giggles as Joe winces from Gwen's stepping on his foot.

"Do you enjoy keeping people guessing?"

"Kurt, we've had this discussion already. I don't want to argue with you; we're actually not fighting right now." she pouts childishly.

"You look like a spoiled sixteen-year-old again,"

"Well, you're acting like an annoying old man. In fact, you _are_ an annoying old man!"

By this point she's literally choking on her laughter. "I'm three years older than you, Tina."

"Then act like it! Here, have some champagne," she takes the glass he's already holding and replaces it with another one, filled with a sparkly gold liquid. Sniffing the old glass, she makes a face. "Water? Kurt, this is a wedding, not a funeral."

With finality, he mumbles, "Whatever. I don't drink alcohol."

"Hmph. Fine I'll drink it myself." She throws her head back and chugs the whole glass, causing Kurt to gawk at her in disbelief. "What?"

"You're barely the legal drinking age. How—what—" he can't seem to formulate a coherent sentence.

"There are many things you have yet to find out about me, Kurt."

She burps with her own definition of finality. Kurt makes the conclusion that she's not an enigma, she's just crazy.

* * *

Two hours later, Tina's definitely had a drink too many. Kurt tries his hardest to avoid her, but she always comes up out of nowhere.

"Will you dance with me, Kurt?" she slurs.

Kurt takes one step away from her and she takes one step closer.

"You're as drunk as Hank, Tina. Go home." He second-thoughts himself because he's all too aware that she wouldn't be able to make it home on her own.

"Dance with me!" she demands, snaking her hands around his arm and pulling him to the dance floor with astounding strength. He stumbles slightly but catches himself on a stray chair.

"Tina, stop it. You're completely wasted. Here, I'll walk you home."

He takes her arm and she ducks under his, effectively wrapping herself around him, and him around her finger.

* * *

The next day he doesn't see her and he worries, so he goes and takes it upon himself to check up on her.

He knocks.

And waits.

And waits.

...And waits.

"Tina?" Kurt calls, knocking once again. He tries the knob and is surprised to find it open; he had made sure it was locked before he left her last night.

Tentatively stepping into the tiny residence, it does not shock him to find out that it's so inexplicably _Tina_. She kept everything the way it was built, with the wooden walls and floors and the arrangement of the furniture. Despite everything being basically the same as it was when it was first built, it had an indescribable homey feel to it. He knocks lightly on her bedroom door which resides to the left of the house (after all, he'd built it). A slight groan answers his unspoken question and he opens the door, only to find her throwing up into a waste bin. _  
_

Grimacing in disgust, he slowly trudges over to Tina's hunched form.

"You look like shit," he remarks in his deadpan voice. Whilst coughing she grins but is then interrupted by a new wave of brown vomit. Kurt can't bear to watch or he himself will start vomiting everywhere.

After she's finished puking her brains out, she lies back on her small bed and declares, "You're mean. But I like you."

His face turns red against his will. "You're an alcoholic. What are you going to do about the farm? I hardly think you can work in this condition."

"Who says I can't?" she retorts, getting up out of bed. Tina stumbles slightly and goes, "Whoa. Vertigo."

"No, not vertigo. You're just extremely hungover."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" she asks, then crawls back into bed.

"Who said I was going to do something about it?"

"You have to. In the romantic comedy version of us you have to cure me from my hungoverness and I'll repay you with...something. I can't think straight. It doesn't matter anyway. I'll get up eventually." she yawns and Kurt knows she's not going to get up. He sighs with a sense of defeat and finality and tries not to dwell on the "romantic comedy version of us".

"All right, I'll take care of your animals and crops for you."

Tina beams at him, and again she reminds him of the sun. "Thank you, Kurt. That means a lot to me."

And she's out and he's out in intersecting directions.

* * *

Kurt finishes her work some seven hours later, cursing Woody for also being hungover and not assigning him work to do because _damn, farming is hard._ He feels bruises coming from where the horse kicked him in the chest and he thinks it actually broke a few ribs. The cows put up a fight when he had tried to milk them, which really didn't help with his bad experience with the horses. They calmed down after he put the fodder in their troughs, but it didn't really comfort him to know that he still had to tend to her crops. Caring for plants was never a problem for him; he used to have his own garden before he got too busy with work. But this? This was a whole other thing. The myriad of crops she had was quite overwhelming. At first it wasn't that bad, but as the hot summer day dragged on, Kurt found that he was increasingly becoming more lethargic. The monotonous motion of filling the watering can, quirking his arm to actually do the watering, and repeating was just so _tiring_.

Finally, he collapses on the ledge between Tina's farm and the beach, feeling utterly fatigued. Based on the sun's position over the sea, he guesses the time is around late afternoon. Kurt shakes his head and furrows his sweat-covered brow, wondering how the time went so quickly. After all, he did start Tina's work at seven o'clock in the morning.

"Kurt? Are you all right?"

He can sense her walking over to his spread-eagle form, her footsteps light on the vivid green grass. He opens his eyes and finds her staring down at him with a concerned expression. However, he thinks _he _should be worried about _her_. Even in the setting sun she looks pale and sickly, with deep purple bags under her eyes. He doesn't recall Tina looking that bad this morning; sure, she looked sick and tired, but she was hungover. Hangovers typically didn't last this long. Come to think of it, her voice sounds gravelly too.

"Are _you_ all right? Tina, you're a mess," Kurt stands and he feels as though his legs will collapse underneath him.

She takes a shaky breath and smiles, albeit weakly. "I'm okay, Kurt. You look like you just came back from a war... Were the animals good to you? They're usually very gentle..." she adds, eyeing a hoof-shaped bruise on his forearm.

"They were... okay."

Feeling a little uncomfortable, he crosses his arms and stares at their feet. She's barefooted. He's not the least bit surprised.

* * *

"Joe? Can you help me get this cake layer on top of this other cake layer?"

"Sure, Katie! Here, give me your oven mitts."

Married life was...interesting. For both of them, even. Katie expected everything to go as she always thought and dreamed ever since she was a little girl. She wanted a fairytale romance, with a handsome chivalrous man who put her life before his own. Now that she's nineteen and married, she realizes her expectations were not quite cynical enough for real life. Or maybe the word was realistic? Whatever. They mean the same thing.

Instead of the handsome chivalrous man, she got Joe; a young, cheerful craftsman with a love of fishing, even if he's not very good at it. Nowadays she knows that she had been silly, wanting such a husband who's only the stuff of children's tales. It doesn't matter anyway; Joe is better than a handsome, rich, chivalrous, and whatever adjectives are in stories as _Cinderella _prince. He was his own definition of princely, and that meaning was the same for Katie.

Now, Joe was a little bit listless at times, but Katie tried her hardest not to let that bother her. Although she usually put up with him and his lethargy, sometimes she'd snap and break and call him out on his laziness. These fights of theirs were typical yet happened irregularly, but they were quite accustomed to sudden outbursts of accusatory glances and voices. Isn't that what makes up marriage anyway?

Joe carefully places the white cake layer on the other while Katie stands there inwardly panicking that he's going to drop it or mess up her masterpiece. Much to both of their relief, the cake remains intact and sturdy. Katie lets out a bated breath, resuming her cake designing.

Joe leans against the counter, asking, "Hey, have you talked to Tina lately? Kurt seems worried about her."

"Yeah I have. I was with her just yesterday. She seemed fine." Katie frowns, narrowing her eyes to add detail to the cake. Then she stops and a smile slowly comes onto her face.

"What are you planning now?" he sighs, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She promptly shrieks and shoves him away in fear she may make a mistake.

"Who said I'm planning anything?" she chuckles coyly.

Joe sighs yet again, taking his bandanna off to run his hand through his hair. His wife's interest in the romantic lives of the villagers took a slight toll on him. After all, he did have to deal with her nonstop chatter about who's dating whom or who likes whom. But she did once mention that she hated gossip, which didn't make much sense to Joe. He had concluded that she contradicted herself too often.

"C'mon, Joe. Dontcha think Kurt and Tina would be good together? Tina needs someone to take care of her and Kurt just seems so...lonely."

He ponders this for a moment or two. Maybe they would, but Joe just doesn't know Tina enough to really be a good judge of that. He would have asked Kurt about his interests in a relationship, but he already knows the other would just reply with his usual grunt without much rhyme or reason, or an actual answer. Kurt doesn't appear to still be recovering from his breakup with Dia; however, that doesn't necessarily mean he's over her.. And he sometimes spaces out during work ("Joe! Get that damned girl out of your brother's head. This isn't helping any of us.")

"Katie, just _please_ don't try to play cupid. Or Harvest Goddess for that matter. We've got enough problems around here without you messing around with my brother's love life."

Katie mumbles darkly with a mischievous smile, "Or lack thereof."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"


End file.
